Sunday, March 16, 2014

Weekly RAW: Week 4, RABC Plan, Cardio isn't "Evil"...

Greetings RAW Warriors,

Here's Week 4 for you of the RABC Plan for next week.

I will still get some 10-Minute Tuesday, Wild Wednesday, and Fantastic Friday routines for you later in the week. Those were pretty well read this past week.

Also, thanks for the response to the freebie weekend of my two Kindle guides, Just The Workouts and Just The Track Workouts.  If you are reading this on Sunday, they are still available here: http://tinyurl.com/rkofp

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Week 4, Day 1

Deadlifts: 5 x 3
Bench Press: 5 x 3

Windmills: 3 x 5 per side
1 Arm DB Rows: 3 x 8 per side

2 Minute Warning: 1 minute each exercise
KB Swings
Total Body Extensions

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Week 4, Day 2
Deadlift: 5 x 3
Bench Press: 5 x 3

Pulldowns: 3 x 8
All Star Sit Ups: 3 x 5

3 Minute Warning: 20/10 x 2 each exercise
Push-Ups
Lunges
Mountain Climbers

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Week 4, Day 3

Deadlifts: 5 x 3
Bench Press: 5 x 3

KB Swings: 20 swings per minute, on the minute, x 10 rounds (10 minutes)

3 Minute Warning: 20/10 x 2 each exercise
Push-ups
Burpees
Planks

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Cardo isn't Evil.

Just a little bit of a rant to go on here...

Probably have heard this from me before, but I hate how running gets lumped into 'slow, boring cardio' all the time by fitness professionals. 

As a runner myself and former full-time fitness training professional and sports performance coach, I just hate how some fitness pros do the following:

1. They always compare a sprinter's physique to a marathoner, saying how one is more muscular, and the other is more thin and sickly looking.  Just because we run, it doesn't mean we are all marathoners!  Quit this crap, fitness pros!  There are plenty of 5K warriors like me who don't run marathons. 5K's are more abundant and easier to race/compete in locally, so stop lumping all runners into one category. Case in point: Over 20,000 will do the Fargo Marathon's 5K event, while their main Marathon itself is capped at 2,000.  That's 18,000 more people than a marathon who will do the 3.1 mile race.  So, stop this madness, please. We are all not marathoners, so quit the comparisons already. You're wrong.

2. They will compare cycling and the elliptical trainer as being equal to running in the 'slow, boring cardio' section of training.  Running is not the same as cycling, cycling is not the same as being on an elliptical trainer.  This is like saying dumbbell lifting is the same as kettlebell lifting and they are both the same as barbell lifting....  There are similarities and differences between all forms.  I can do things with kettlebells that I can't do with barbells. I can do things with dumbbells that I can't do with barbells or kettlebells. So, stop with the 'This is equal to That' comparisons!  Quit marketing things with false images.

3. After bashing 'slow-go cardio', they will then say that INTERVALS ARE THE BEST FORM OF CARDIO, EVER.   I would have to agree with this, but interval training is not something to be done every single day, either.

As a Track coach, this would be like me prescribing the following to my runners: 

Monday: 400's on the track, 8-10 of them
Tuesday: 100's on the track, 16-20 of them
Wednesday: 200's on the track, 8-12 of them
Thursday: Repeat 800's on the track, 4-6 of them
Friday: Repeat Miles on the track, 2-3 of them

All of those workouts are Interval workouts of varying durations, but they are not ideally to be done every single darn day of your training week.

With the above workouts, I maybe do two interval speed training days per week, because the body isn't made to handle such high intensities on a daily basis.  Even elite runners don't do multiple interval workouts in a week, they intersperse them with longer, slower runs to help with recovery and work on other aspects of their fitness.

One way I do some of my workouts in the summer are interval workouts on the track, with bike rides on days in-between, going moderately over the natural hills and terrain/weather I am facing (windy days around here make for some hard riding on its own). My bike rides are the easy days, the interval workouts are my harder track days.

Some fitness pros will frown on long, slow cardio, but I have rediscovered its benefits throughout the years and no longer agree to the "intervals or nothing" mindset that some trainers have.

I don't agree with high mileage programs being a solution, but I do agree with high quality workouts being the solution instead.

All in all, I am getting sick of seeing fitness professionals bash the sports of running and cycling all the time in the name of marketing the Six Pack look.

I guess whether I have a six-pack or not is not important, I'm just worried about where the heck I finish in a race in the end.

No one gives me a trophy for a six-pack, they give me a trophy if I earn it by time and placing high enough.

Not all people run just to lose weight and get into shape.... we run because we love to race, too.

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Lift. Dominate. Repeat.
Rats Alley Barbell Club
Coach Rick Karboviak
http://occupyfirstplace.com

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